Blog by Beebe Cline

6 Ways to Grow Edibles in Small Places

People are more excited than ever these days to experiment with growing their own food and reaping the rewards of an edible garden. But what if you don’t have a huge amount of space? Are your dreams of a bountiful harvest coming from your own little plot unrealistic? Thankfully, that's not the case — there are actually a bunch of ways to produce a wide variety of edibles in small spaces.

The
first step is to take a good look at your space and assess what
resources you have available. Light and water access are the two biggest
requirements of a food garden. Most food crops require a large amount
of sunlight, something that small spaces sometimes lack. However, there
are some crops that thrive in lower-light conditions. Regular water
access is also key to healthy crops and should be considered when you're
configuring a food garden. As long as you can access water and provide
proper drainage, a happy food garden is in your future!

1. Container gardening. Whether
they're pots of herbs or troughs full of greens and root crops,
containers work well to maximize small spaces. Prefab containers come in
numerous shapes, sizes and materials.

It’s worth noting that
not all containers are created equal. If you live in an area that has
cold winter weather, it’s important to select containers that can deal
with fluctuations in temperature. Steer clear of terra-cotta, as it can
crack and dry out roots; look for the many emerging polycarbonate and
fiberglass options instead. They will cost you more initially, but they
are built to last, and you won’t have any nasty surprises in the winter.

2. Raised vegetable beds. If
you have a bit more room, a raised vegetable bed is a great way to grow
crops. Aside from having the functional benefit of providing easier
access to the plants, raised beds improve the drainage and aeration of
the soil and allow the bed to warm more quickly in the spring, so you
can plant earlier. Raised beds can be built out of anything, as long as
the material doesn’t contain chemicals that can leach into the soil. Use
cedar or hardwood lumber instead of a pressure-treated material for a
long-lasting, chemical-free bed.

3. Square-foot gardening. This
simple method of organizing crops works best in a raised bed and will
maximize the surface area of your garden to produce large yields of
crops. It entails dividing the soil area into 1-square-foot cells, using
twine, wood or wire affixed in a grid format to the top of the raised
bed.

Different crops of vegetables can then be planted in
each cell. When a crop is harvested, a different crop is replanted in
the cell. This rotation of crops ensures that nutrients aren’t exhausted
from the soil, and plants benefit from companion plantings that promote
healthy growth and pest resistance.

4. Berry patches for shady spots. Although most berries require full sun, blueberries
will actually produce fruit in very little light. They also don’t mind
being planted in containers, as long as the soil is on the acidic side.
This is something that’s easy to regulate by adding peat or an acidic
medium to the soil at the beginning of spring.

Note: Blueberries require several different varieties present to produce fruit through cross-pollination.

5. Grow potatoes in sacks. A great way to grow potatoes
is in old coffee sacks. Most coffee roasters will be happy to part with
some sacks for you to use for this purpose, and it’s easy to set up a
row of potato sacks that will provide you with a pantry full of spuds.
Start with a sack rolled down two-thirds of the way and fill the bottom
with soil. Place seed potatoes inside and cover them with soil.

As
the potato plants grow, roll up the sides of the sack until the sack is
fully upright. When the potatoes are ready to harvest (the leaves have
turned yellow), lift the sides of the sack, and the potatoes and soil
will fall out the bottom. The bottom rots out of the sack soon after
initial planting, so make sure not to move the sack before you’re ready
to harvest.

6. Espaliered fruit trees. The
demand to produce tree fruit in small spaces has initiated a boom in
specialty grafted fruit trees, allowing you to produce a hefty reserve
of fruit within a small horizontal area. Nurseries have trees with
several varieties grafted onto the same rootstock, allowing for
cross-pollination and a fascinating display of different growth rates
and fruit production on each individual branch.

Using the
age-old technique of espaliering trees — in which branches are trained
to a structure (to provide support when the trees are laden down with
fruit) and tips are pruned to maintain a compact size — it is possible
to have a flourishing fruit orchard on your patio. Make sure that the
container you choose is large enough to be topped with fresh compost
every year (fruit trees are big feeders, so you must provide fertile
soil to aid fruit production) and that you locate it in a site where
there is adequate sun exposure.